The Creationism Act

By Anonymous, Kenner, LA

The teaching of creation science in public schools is a breach of the First Amendment- more specifically in the Establishment Clause. The Establishment Clause says that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.” By teaching the creation story of God creating Adam and Eve, the public school is imposing its Christian views on children who may not be Christian. If a Muslim child goes to a public school, he would not have the same belief; he may believe in a god but not the God that is being taught about. By teaching the idea of God creating the world in seven days, the Establishment Clause would not be upheld.

In the case of Edwards v. Aguillard, Don Aguillard, a high school biology teacher, was faced with confrontation when he tried to teach the story of creation in a public school. The governor of Louisiana, Edwin Edwards, said that teaching the Creation Story was unconstitutional. The Creationism Act stated that if the evolution theory was taught in public schools, then the theory of creationism was also to be taught. Many people, however, challenged this act. Both the Federal District Court and the Court of Appeals declared that the Creationism Act was unconstitutional.

The court rulings came about because of the Lemon Test. The Lemon Test consists of three parts: the government’s action must have a secular purpose, it must avoid excessive entanglement between religion and government, and it must not enhance nor inhibit religion. This test is still used today. The Lemon Test is a way of protecting the Establishment Clause and academic freedom. With both the Establishment Clause and the Lemon Test in place, the government has very strict regulations about what can and cannot be done or said in the schools. This lasting precedent reaffirms that the advancing of any religious doctrine in the public school system is in direct violation of the First Amendment.

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I'll make sure that stupid fanatical bullcrap like creationism is kept out of schools, and you make sure teaching homosexuality as normal is kept out of schools.

DreamsAreBrokenreplied...Dec. 29, 2010 at 2:16 pm

you have to be kidding me right? this is a very true piece. homosexuality is wrong, yes, evolution is wrong, yes. but both sides, mine and yours deserve to be heard. thats how this country was founded.

The first request; fine, it's already done. The second one; Homosexuality is not talked about in schools because it is too controversial. "Homosexuality is wrong" is an opinion based statement. Creationism is not abnormal, it just can't be proven and it interferes with the separation of church and state. Whether homosexuality is normal or not does not matter. If you don't agree with it, then don't be one. Problem solved.

I always thought that homosexuality was just simple Westphalianism, which is an addition to the theory of Natural Selection. Essentially, as you know, Natural Selection states that traits that increase survival and reproduction will flourish, while other traits will be dropped or rendered obsolete. But Westphalianism states that when a species gets too big for its environment to support its number, the species begins to favor traits that decrease reproduction. Really, I think that homosexuality ... (more »)

That is exactly what I have been thinking! It seems like a logical explanation. I think one day we will find out that a lot of the problems we have today have been put in place to keep us under control during this point in time. But either way it doesn't make it a negative thing in my viewpoint. It's not hurting anyone as far as I'm concerned, and if they can be happy that way, it's fine with me. Everyone feels a bit uneasy, but if it ends up reducing the population a bit.. we'll see.

Plus, the perk of most of those couples is that since they can't naturally have children, they adopt ones that would otherwise have to wait longer for parents or face starvation. They can provide a good home for already existing kids without needing to bring new ones into the world.

Good point. Oh, and for those of you that don't know why it's called Westphalianism, the Peace of Westphalia, signed in 1648, was a series of treaties that established the European balance of power, to make sure that one nation didn't get too big and powerful and thus destroy all the other nations. So it's like that, but this balance of power is between the various parts of the ecosystem.

If biblical creationism were taught alongside other religious creation stories, then it wouldn't be wrong, would it? An institution that denies religion is lifting up atheism and that's equally unjust. Don't you think it would be insulting to be told that the universe was created billions of years ago in some massive explosion...if that's not what you believe? It forces you to renounce your religion and bubble in the "right" answer on the test. Something to keep in mind.

That's what education is. Fact. Science class is about fact and nature. In biology classes and such, there is no religion. Is is facts that have been proven by scientists. Just consider it a test on scientific theory. You don't have to believe it, but you have to understand it. If you can't manage to choke back your tears and refrain from cursing the teacher and the books to burn, then you should go to a religious school. They still have those.

This is one of the things that I hate. Okay, Eman_Neercs, I know that you probably do think that evolution states that the universe was created by two particles colliding, but that's not the case. I know, that sounds crazy, but please hear me out. All evolution is is the theory that as eons pass, traits in organisms that further reproduction and survival will flourish, while traits that don't will be dropped or rendered obsolete. Evolution isn't supposed to explain the origin of life, it never w... (more »)

A great analysis on the political ramifications and violations of the creationism movement in the U.S. However, it's important to consider the problem beyond that of modern social and political discourse: we must remember the threats that the teaching of such an unrealistic doctrine would pose to the long-term future of our society. Further, we are depriving our children the *true* answer to one of the most pressing questions of all time: how did we come to be? Such a threat we should not t... (more »)